Thread: Felling oversized trees...no probs. Little ones however...

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

Dumb story...

I've been helping the old man out by dropping a bunch of fire killed trees on his mate's property in Scotsburn/Clarendon. I've only got a 22" bar and most of the trunks have been 26" to over 30". Those big buggers fell without a hitch. I was even getting so cocky as to setting a small lump of wood in the direction of the fall and dropping the tree onto it.

Then I had to put down a couple of 6" thick very tall stalks...and that's where things started going wrong.

- Small scarf...back cut...it fell onto another live tall stalk (which was predicted), but somehow it got hung up in the fresh young stems. I figured it was just going to roll off it, but nooooo....
- Through cut about a foot long...kick out log...the butt bumped up and fell on the ground which left the tree still snagged.
- Through cut about 5 foot long...kick out log...same thing.
- Repeat once more.
- Repeat again, but this time the tree fell nearly 180 degrees backwards and got snagged in a fork of a different and bigger tree.
- Through cut about 5 foot long...kick out log...still snagged in the fork...the butt just swang backwards until it hit the ground
- Repeat once more.
- Repeat once more.
- Repeat...and finally my nemesis lay on the ground.

9 attempts on one piddling tree!!!!


Dad was off to the side in hysterics while I was mildly fuming.

It's good to see you supplying entertainment for the older folk in the community.

Reminds me of cutting down half a dozen 16 ft high (300 mm diameter) pencil pines for my sister.
The pines were growing in a raised garden bed along a fence line that consisted of a single brick thickness wall that was also part of the neighbours flat roofed car port.
My sisters block was empty as they had just had their old place demolished.
I was on the chainsaw and we tied two ropes about 12ft up each tree and put nephew and BIL at each end of the rope to apply some tension to pull them away from the fence line.
All went well until the last one which had a very slight lean back over the garage.
Just as the saw reached the point where you could start to hear the cracking of he hinge the nephew slipped over and he dropped his rope and the tree sprang back the other way and fell onto the roof of the garage.
Miraculously the wall stayed intact and we managed to pull it off the garage roof without any problems.

Another one was when I was trimming some long branches form one of our gum trees growing close to a side fence. The branches on our side were easy as I dropped them straight into our yard. One of the branches heading over the fence was as easy as there was nothing but 4ft high weeds in its fall path on the neighbours side. The other branch was about 3ft above and straight across the neighbours rickety 60 year old wooden shed. I found some rope and tied that branch to the trunk and to a couple of the branches above. Well of course the rope stretched and the snapped just as the branch gently came to rest across the top of the shed. The shed wobbled in a circle about 3 times but stayed upright. Fortunately the 100 year old neighbour was out at the time. A year later the centenarian move out and the house was sold to a young couple who set about tidying the back yard. One day there was an almighty crash when they went to demolish the old shed and they literally pushed on it and it folded like a house of cards. It turned out that the wall studs near the ground were eaten out by termites.

Originally Posted by BobL

....

LOL...the simplest things often turn out the worst eh? Love the collapsing shed tale

I heard today that the property owner where I've been cutting had a "professional" tree guy come out who refused to touch a couple of dead trees that were right next to a basic wire fence. I'm not particularly educated in felling, and have only a limited amount of experience, but I have a science/physics mind and put those two big babies down without even grazing the wires. The owner couldn't believe that I put them down so well when the pros were too scared to even think about it.

Sadly that's been my experience in my past programming career too...all of those Microsoft certified peeps (my higher ups) couldn't understand how I could write code so quickly (simple typing skills) and accurately (I knew my stuff like the back of my hand back then).

Remember that a professional is liable for damages... And that rickety old wire fence often turns into a registered antique Australian Historic Heritage Monument sort of thing hand made prior to English arrival by an extinct band of aborigines out of meteorite iron and wooly mammoth tusk where repair costs more than rebuilding a new thing of gold if it is so much as scratched. (At least according to the land owner...).. Second is permission to enter adjoining property is not often granted... And once again - the land is often protected biodiverse CITES title 1 listed habitat and will require the sawyer to spend millions of dollars on restoration in the likely event that a truck leaves a 3" divot from it's tires... (At least according to the adjoining land owner...)

As such you would find it was more a question of the price of the job, insurance, and the equipment it would require (bucket trucks, cranes, climbing crew, etc). Often a professional will decline a job rather than quoting a "ridiculous amount of money"

You on the other hand are a non-professional invited guest of the land owner... If a problem arises - legal responsibility ultimately lands upon the land owner who asked you to do the job... So if the wind blows the tree over the fence and it plows the neighbor's ute during the cut - the land owner is responsible to deal with it...

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

I had to put down a couple of 6" thick very tall stalks...and that's where things started going wrong.

- Small scarf...back cut...it fell onto another live tall stalk (which was predicted), but somehow it got hung up in the fresh young stems. I figured it was just going to roll off it, but nooooo....
- Through cut about a foot long...kick out log...the butt bumped up and fell on the ground which left the tree still snagged.
- Through cut about 5 foot long...kick out log...same thing.
- Repeat once more.
- Repeat again, but this time the tree fell nearly 180 degrees backwards and got snagged in a fork of a different and bigger tree.
- Through cut about 5 foot long...kick out log...still snagged in the fork...the butt just swang backwards until it hit the ground
- Repeat once more.
- Repeat once more.
- Repeat...and finally my nemesis lay on the ground.

9 attempts on one piddling tree!!!!

At least you're still alive.

what you describe is more commonly found in coroner's reports

In 10 years of dropping trees on our place I've generally had great results. Dropped trees close to a fence, no problems. Highlight was removing a gate off the hinges, and dropping a large tree into the space between the gate posts without touching the fence on either side. Unfortunately, this may have led to me getting a bit cocky.....

Fast forward 12 months. A big eucalypt had been standing dead for a few years, and the time came to drop it for firewood. Perfect firewood tree I thought; dead straight trunk going up about 40m with not a single branch, and just a few scattered dead branches right at the top of the tree. Nothing to attach a rope to, but as I had a whole paddock to drop it into on one side I thought it would be fine. How could I miss? Chose a windless day, cut a textbook wedge out (aimed in the right direction), started on the back cut. Whacked in a steel wedge to stop the thing going backwards, tapping it in incrementally as I continued the back cut. No sound of splintering wood, no movement at the top of the tree. Eventually I'd cut right through, no timber left to remove, tree still sitting there perfectly balanced. No rope to pull on, nothing left to cut, now what??? Eventually the lightest gust of wind sent the thing over backwards, leaving most of the trunk suspended over a steep gully and only supported at both ends. Lots of fun and games logging it up, and the wood was fantastic firewood, but I'll never drop anything large again without getting a rope on it first.

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

Then I had to put down a couple of 6" thick very tall stalks...and that's where things started going wron

9 attempts on one piddling tree!!!!

Dad was off to the side in hysterics while I was mildly fuming.

After several bouts with little flexible trees like this including putting one on the roof - I strap them up as high as possible with the winch on the jeep and then drag them the right direction...

Often you can also drag small trees like this back out of trouble... Strap the winch to the bottom of the log and just drag it free of the snag....

Talking about things falling the wrong way.

After 6 months of planning an preparation . . . . . . .
Demolition goes wrong as silo falls wrong way to crush Danish cultural centre - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Thanks Bob - I don't feel so silly now.

My neighbour had Jim's Treelopping in to cut some gums. Two fell over our fence which they mended with cable ties. I gave them a real serve and they blamed a gust of wind but it was pure incompetence, in my book. The cable ties broke after awhile. They were also incapable of mending a fence.

Kidbee - if you wanted to make a point - all you have to do is file a claim against his Home Owner's insurance.. Of course you have to have your ducks in a row... Pictures of them doing the deed, pictures of the improper fix. etc. The reality is - his tree, his workers, your fence is his problem... The reason you hire contractors with insurance is so their insurance covers their problems... If it doesn't - you, the home owner are responsible for their problems....

I would start by contacting the owner of the tree service and demand resolution... Get him out on your property. Not the lackey with a chainsaw in his hand, but the actual owner.... The owner does not want angry neighbors slathering bad press about his sloppy and incompetent workers all over the entire internet.... Jim's Tree Service dropped my neighbor's tree on my fence then left me holding the bill! This message is not good for business! Likely the chainsaw lackey never told Owner about your fence which he strapped with zip ties...

And the tree service owner needs to know this - because cowboys who hit fences invariably drop trees onto cars, power lines, and also houses... Those sorts will cost his business a fortune - not two 3m sections of wood fence and a handful of nails....

I'm pretty sure that "Jim's Treelopping" is a franchise operation. The lackey with the chain saw is the business "owner"

Originally Posted by BobL

Talking about things falling the wrong way.

As they say, 'the best laid plans....' or, in this case, Oops!

Alan...

Originally Posted by ian

I'm pretty sure that "Jim's Treelopping" is a franchise operation. The lackey with the chain saw is the business "owner"

Yes they are franchises' but with the name Jim's ... It can still damage the brand.